KERALA
RESTRICTION ON CUTTING AND DESTRUCTION OF VALUABLE TREES ACT, 1974 [1]THE KERALA RESTRICTION ON CUTTING AND DESTRUCTION OF
VALUABLE TREES ACT, 1974 [ Act No. 7 of 1974] An Act to restrict the cutting and
destruction of certain valuable trees in private lands in the State of Kerala Whereas
it is considered necessary to restrict the cutting and destruction of certain
valuable trees in private lands in the State of Kerala; Be it
enacted in the Twenty-fifth Year of the Republic of India as follows:- (1)
This Act may be called the Kerala Restriction
on Cutting and Destruction of Valuable Trees Act, 1974. (2)
It extends to the whole of the State of
Kerala. (3)
It shall be deemed to have come into force on
the 22nd day of January, 1974. In
this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,- (a)
"authorized officer" means an
officer appointed under section 3; (b)
"owner" in relation to any land
includes a mortgage, lessee or other person having right to possession and
enjoyment of that land; (c)
"plantation" means any land used
principally for the cultivation of tea, coffee, coca, rubber, cardamom or
cinnamon and includes lands interspersed within the boundaries of the area
principally cultivated with such crops; (d)
"prescribed" means prescribed by
rules made under this Act; (e)
"valuable tree" means sandalwood
tree, rose wood tree or teak tree. The
Government may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint such officers as they
think fit to be authorized officers for the purposes of this Act and may assign
to them such local limits as they think fit. (1)
No owner of any land [including a
plantation], and no person claiming under him or any other person, shall,
without the previous permission of the authorized officer, cut any sandalwood
tree or rosewood tree from that land. (2)
No owner of any plantation, and no person
claiming under him, or any other person shall without the previous permission
of the authorized officer, cut any teak tree from that plantation. (1)
No person shall, without the previous
permission of the authorized officer, destroy any sandalwood tree or rosewood
tree or plant of any such tree or do any act which diminishes the value of any
such tree or plant. (2)
No person shall, without the previous
permission of the authorized officer, destroy any teak tree or plant of such
tree standing in a plantation or do any act which diminishes the value of any
such tree or plant. (1)
The Government may, either suo motu or on
application by any person aggrieved, call for and examine the record of any
order passed by the authorized officer under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2)
of section 4 or sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) of section 5, for the
purpose of satisfying themselves as to the legality, propriety or regularity of
such order and pass such order thereon as they think fit. (2)
The Government shall not of their own motion
revise any order under sub-section (1) if that order has been passed more than
three months previously. (3)
An application under sub-section (1) by an
aggrieved person shall be made within a period of two months from the date on
which the order in question was communicated to him: Provided
that the Government may admit an application made after the expiry of the said
period of two months if they are satisfied that the applicant had sufficient
cause for not making the application within that period. (4)
An order prejudicial to a person shall not be
passed under subsection (1) unless that person has been given a reasonable
opportunity of showing cause against such order. Explanation:-
An order declining to interfere shall, for the purposes of this sub-section be
deemed to be an order prejudicial to a person. Whoever
contravenes the provisions of sub-section (1) or subsection (2) of section 4 or
sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) of section 5 or any of the terms and
conditions subject to which a permission has been granted under any of the said
provisions, shall be punishable- (a)
in the case of a first offence, with
imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may
extend to five hundred rupees, or with both; and (b)
in the case of a second or subsequent
offence, with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one month
but which may extend to six months and with fine which shall not be less than
one thousand rupees but which may extend to five thousand rupees. (1)
Where an offence under this Act has been committed
by a company, every person who at the time the offence was committed was in
charge of, and was responsible to, the company for the conduct of its business,
shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded
against and punished accordingly: Provided
that nothing in this sub-section shall render any person liable to punishment
if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he
had exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence. (2)
Notwithstanding anything contained in
sub-section (1), where any offence under this Act has been committed by a
company and it is proved that the offence has been committed with the consent
or connivance of, or is attributable to any neglect on the part of, any
director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such director,
manager, secretary or other officer shall be deemed to be guilty of that
offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly. Explanation:-
For the purposes of this section,- (a)
"company" means any body corporate
and includes a firm, society or other association of individuals; and (b)
"director"- (i)
in relation to a firm, means a partner in the
firm; (ii)
in relation to a society or other association
of individuals, means the person who is entrusted, under the rules of the
society or other association, with the management of the affairs of the society
or other association as the case may be. The
authorized officer shall for the purpose of performing his functions under this
Act, have all the powers of a civil court while trying a suit under the Code of
Civil Procedure, 1908 (Central Act 5 of 1908), in respect of the following
matters, namely:- (a)
summoning and enforcing the attendance of any
person and examining him on oath; (b)
requiring the discovery and production of any
document; and (c)
receiving evidence on affidavit. The
authorized officer or any other officer generally or specially authorized by
the Government in this behalf may, with such assistants (if any), being persons
in the service of the Government, as he thinks fit, at all reasonable times
enter upon any land (including a plantation) for the purpose of ascertaining
whether any of the provisions of this Act or any of the terms and conditions
subject to which any permission has been granted under this Act has been
contravened. No
prosecution shall be instituted against any person without the sanction of the
authorized officer. No
order of the Government or the authorized officer under this Act shall be
liable to be questioned in any court of law. No
suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against the Government or
the authorized officer or any other person for anything which is in good faith
done or purported to have been done under this Act or any rule made thereunder. (1)
The Government may, by notification in the
Gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act. (2)
In particular, and without prejudice to the
generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for- (a)
the girth of trees which may be permitted to
be cut; (b)
the terms and conditions subject to which
permissions may be granted; (c)
the procedure to be followed by the
authorized officer before granting permission; (d)
any other matter which has to be, or may be,
prescribed. (3)
Every rule made under this section shall be
laid, as soon as may be after it is made,before the Legislative Assembly while
it is in session for a total period of fourteen days which may be comprised in
one session or in two successive sessions and if before the expiry of the
session in which it is so laid or the session immediately following, the
Legislative Assembly makes any modification in the rule or decides that the
rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such
modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so however that any such
modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of
anything previously done under that rule. If any
difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this Act, the
Government may, as occasion may require, by order, do anything not inconsistent
with such provisions, which appears to them necessary for the purpose of
removing the difficulty. (1)
The Kerala Restriction on Cutting and
Destruction of Valuable Trees Ordinance, 1974 (1 of 1974), is hereby repealed. (2)
Notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or
any action taken under the said Ordinance shall be deemed to have been done or
taken under this Act.
Preamble - THE KERALA RESTRICTION ON CUTTING
AND DESTRUCTION OF VALUABLE TREES ACT, 1974PREAMBLE